ברטעה-ריחן, טורה-שקד, טייבה-רומנה, עאנין
06:07 Barta’a/Reihan checkpoint
Why make it easy on people if you can make it hard on them?
The checkpoint was quiet when we arrived, no people. A few laborers sit in the nearby shed waiting to go to their jobs in Harish. According to their crossing permit they may go through only at 06:30, and even though they arrived early, and the checkpoint is empty – they won’t go through but must wait for the time noted on their documents. Things are organized here.
06:15 A number of jitneys arrived suddenly and dozens of younger and older men emerged. It grew congested at the gate but the line moved. The security company at the checkpoint has turned the occupation into a well-oiled machine. Under its management the checkpoint opens on time and every delay or breakdown has an explanation.
An innovation: trucks with agricultural produce no longer wait (from the previous night) on the road to Jenin but rather in a special parking area near the vehicle compound.
06:30 ‘Anin checkpoint
Whywaste the Palestinians’ time? Wait – why not?
The checkpoint is closed, no soldiers. The farmers wait below on the village side. A phone call to the DCL – they don’t know what happened. Another call – now they know: the soldiers are delayed at Checkpoint 265, at A’arqa village, “they’ll be there.” They arrived half an hour late, and the crossing opened at 07:05. Two tractors and more than ten people on foot – all crossed in 15 minutes. Whatever the reason for the frequent delays opening the agricultural gates, the most powerful/smartest/most moral army in the Middle East isn’t able to adhere to its own timetable. And that’s because no one cares about Palestinians and their rights. They’re only an annoyance.
A resident of ‘Anin approached us; he works as an electrician in Barta’a. His commercial permit (tajar) has expired a week ago but they let him cross anyway. Very nice. The permit renewal is stuck somewhere between the Palestinian and Israeli DCLs, and tomorrow or the next day he probably won’t be able to go to work. We helped this nice guy a year ago to claim his right to work in the seam zone. It took a very long time, during which he slept outdoors in the olive groves and sometimes didn’t get home for days.
07:20 Tura/Shaked checkpoint.
Tofi!
Two lovely first-grade girls look straight at us and demand: Tofi! Tofi? [candy]. I’m reminded that once, during a tour through remote Turkish villages the guide begged us not to give children money or candy. They haven’t yet been spoiled, he said. But if I’d had candy I’d have given it to them, because I’m a grandmother who loves sweet smiles.
07:55 Tayibe/Rummane
They won’t fool us.
A surprise. The Border Police arrived five minutes early. The soldier who seems to be in charge went to open the gate and at the same time learned what MachsomWatch is. But our joy was premature. On the other side of the checkpoint we observed again the shameful display we’d already seen a number of times, and not only here: The lock at the gate won’t open. The checkpoint locks rust easily, especially because the gates open only twice weekly… The Palestinian tractor driver (as usual) removed the hammer from his toolbox and gave it to the Border Police soldier. He accepted it. We’ve already seen soldiers adamantly refuse this humanitarian assistance and prefer to bang the lock with a rock. Here they banged and hit and pounded the lock until they fractured and demolished it and the crossing opened: two tractors and more than 15 people on foot went through. One man was sent back. He has a permit, K., the Border Police soldier, explained to us politely, but dressed like that – he can’t fool us, he’s not on his way to work his land. Don’t you agree?
'Anin checkpoint (214)
See all reports for this place-
'Anin checkpoint (214)
'Anin checkpoint is located on the Separation Fence east of the Israeli community Mei Ami and close to the village of Anin in the West Bank. It is opened twice a week, morning and afternoon, on days with shorter light time, for Anin farmers whose olive groves have been separated from the village by the fence it became difficult to cultivate their land. Transit permits are only issued to those who can produce ownership documents for their caged-in land, and sometimes only to the head of the family or his widow, eldest son, and children. Sometimes the inheritors lose their right to tend to the family’s land. The permits are eked out and are re-issued only with difficulty. 55-year-old persons may cross the checkpoint (into Israel) without special permits. During the olive harvest season (about one month around October) the checkpoint is open daily and more transit permits are issued. Names of persons eligible to cross are held in the soldiers’ computers. In July 2007, a sweeping instruction was issued, stating that whoever does not return to the village through this checkpoint in the afternoon will be stripped of his transit permit when he shows up there next time. Since 2019, the checkpoint has not been allways locked with the seam-line zone gate (1 of 3 gates), and the fence around it has been broken in several sites.
-
Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint
See all reports for this place-
This checkpoint is located on the Separation Fence route, east of the Palestinian town of East Barta’a. The latter is the largest Palestinian community inside the seam-line zone (Barta’a Enclave) in the northern West Bank. Western Barta’a, inside Israel, is adjacent to it. The Checkpoint is open all week from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. Since mid-May 2007, the checkpoint has been managed by a civilian security company subordinate to the Ministry of Defense. People permitted to cross through this checkpoint into and from the West Bank are residents of Palestinian communities inside the Barta’a Enclave as well as West Bank Palestinian residents holding transit permit. Jewish settlers from Hermesh and Mevo Dotan cross here without inspection. A large, modern terminal is active here with 8 windows for document inspection and biometric tests (eyes and fingerprints). Usually only one or two of the 8 windows are in operation. Goods, up to medium commercial size, may pass here from the West Bank into the Barta’a Enclave. A permanent registered group of drives who have been approved by the may pass with farm produce. When the administration of the checkpoint was turned over to a civilian security firm, the Ya’abad-Mevo Dotan Junction became a permanent checkpoint. . It is manned by soldiers who sit in the watchtower and come down at random to inspect vehicles and passengers (February 2020).
-
Tayba-Rummana
See all reports for this place-
Tayba-Rummana is an agricultural checkpoint. It is located in the separation fence in front of the eastern slopes of the Israeli city of Umm al-Fahm. The Palestinian villages next to the checkpoint are Khirbet Tayba and Rummana. Dozens of dunams of olive groves were removed from their owners, the residents of these villages on the western side of the separation fence. The Palestinian villages next to the checkpoint are Khirbet Tayba and Rumna. Dozens of olives dunams were removed from these villages' residents and swallowed up in a narrow strip of space, on the western side of the separation fence. The checkpoint allows the plantation owners who have permits to pass. Twice a week, the checkpoint opens for fifteen minutes in the morning and evening. During the harvest season, it opens every day for fifteen minutes in the morning (around 0630) and fifteen minutes in the afternoon (around 1530). (February 2020).
-
Tura-Shaked
See all reports for this place-
Tura-Shaked
This is a fabric of life* checkpoint through which pedestrians, cabs and private cars (since 2008) pass to and from the West Bank and the Seam-line Zone to and from the industrical zone near the settler-colony Shaked, schools and kindergartens, and Jenin university campuses. The checkpoint is located between Tura village inside the West Bank and the village of Dahar Al Malah inside the enclave of the Seam-line Zone. It is opened twice a day, between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m., and from 12 noon to 7 p.m. People crossing it (at times even kindergarten children) are inspected in a bungalow with a magnometer. Names of those allowed to cross it appear in a list held by the soldiers. Usually traffic here is scant.
- fabric of life roads and checkpoints, as defined by the Terminals Authority in the Ministry of Defense (fabric of life is a laundered name that does not actually describe any kind of humanitarian purpose) are intended for Palestinians only. These roads and checkpoints have been built on lands appropriated from their Palestinian owners, including tunnels, bypass roads, and tracks passing under bridges. Thus traffic can flow between the West Bank and its separated parts that are not in any kind of territorial contiguity with it. Mostly there are no permanent checkpoint on these roads but rather ‘flying’ checkpoints, check-posts or surprise barriers. At Toura, a small (less than one dunam) and sleepy checkpoint has been established, which has filled up with the years with nearly .every means of supervision and surveillance that the Israeli military occupation has produced. (February 2020)
Mar-21-2022Anin Checkpoint: A magnificent breach in the center of the checkpoint
-